Many fear that the presidential polls may provoke widespread violence.
Advertisement
The legitimacy of the electoral process in Burundi over the past few months has been tainted by the government’s harassment of opposition and civil society members, closing down of media outlets and political space, and intimidation of voters. Witnesses say polling stations were much busier in the president’s home village of Buye and in other pro-Nkurunziza parts of the country.
Election monitors and representatives of the major parties look on as votes are read out after polls closed in the Vugizo neighborhood in the suburb of capital Bujumbura, Burundi, July 21, 2015.
Electoral Commission President Pierre-Claver Ndayicariye said around 74 percent of Burundi’s 3.8 million registered voters cast their ballots in the presidential election.
Government officials reported at least three people dead – two policemen and an opposition official – in a night of gunfire and explosions before the election.
“More serious is the risk of unravelling the fragile progress made through the implementation of the Arusha Agreement, which states clearly that no Burundi president shall serve more than two terms in office”, it said.
“It was the civilians with firearms who were shooting”, he said.
The United States warns that elections held under the current conditions in Burundi will not be credible and will further discredit the government.
Neighbouring African states had called for the election to be postponed.
In one polling station in the capital, voters were seen scrubbing off indelible ink from their fingers to avoid reprisals from opposition supporters boycotting the ballot.
Former colonial ruler and key donor Belgium said the polls “do not meet the minimal requirements of inclusiveness and transparency”, and repeated warnings it would “review its cooperation” with Bujumbura. “The elections are just a masquerade because only one party is competing”, he said. The demonstrations triggered an attempted coup in May that was quickly put down by forces loyal to Nkurunziza.
The Nyarugusu refugee camp on the border with Tanzania is reported to now be “at breaking point”, as mentioned by Médecins Sans Frontières, with more than 1,000 people arriving every day, adding to The 78,000 Congolese and Burundian refugees already there.
Last-ditch crisis talks mediated by Uganda broke down on Sunday.
Poor and landlocked, Burundi is in the heart of central Africa’s troubled Great Lakes region.
The presidential election follows a parliamentary vote last month that Nkurunziza’s party easily won.
Advertisement
Analysts say renewed conflict in the country could reignite ethnic Hutu-Tutsi violence and bring another humanitarian disaster on the region. Since then, it has had four coups and a civil war that killed 250,000 people.
